Vic teachers express need for breastfeeding

The Independent Teachers Union in Victoria is pushing for more
family-friendly Catholic schools with special rooms so breastfeeding
teachers can express and store milk while at work.

The Age
reports that Melbourne's Catholic education chiefs are being urged to
accommodate teachers wanting extra paternity leave and breastfeeding
rooms for new mothers who have returned to the classroom.

The
Catholic teachers' union is pushing for schools to have special rooms
and designated times so that teachers who are breastfeeding can express
and store milk during working hours.

And in an ambitious move,
teachers want maximum caps on class sizes across every year level, as
well as a reduction in the number of scheduled classroom hours they
work, the paper says.

Union documents obtained by The Age
show Catholic school teachers are preparing to use this year's
enterprise bargaining round to push for higher wages and for working
conditions they hope will bring them more into line with teachers in
the state's public schools.

In addition to breastfeeding rooms
and an increase in parental leave, the union wants class sizes capped
at a maximum of 23 students in years prep to two; 26 students in years
three to six and 24 students in VCE.

Senior Catholic officials
concede that class sizes are a particular problem for their sector,
which has not been able to devote the same kind of money to reducing
sizes as the Bracks Government has in state schools.

This year, average class sizes in public schools hit a record low of 20.7 students in prep to grade 2.

In
Catholic schools, classes have an average of 22.4 students, and many
are forced to study in cramped classrooms of 30 students.

Catholic
Education Office assistant director Vin McPhee said employers would
negotiate a new deal with teachers "in good faith", that they hoped
would be in line with public schools.